Method and automatic apparatus for producing pile surfaced plastic sheeting



Sept. 27, 1966 J. H. LEMELSON METHOD AND AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING FILE SURFACED PLASTIC SHEETING Filed Jan. 7, 1963 INVENTOR. Jerome H.Lemelson United States Patent METHOD AND AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PILE SURFACED PLASTIC SHEETING Jerome H. Lemelson, 8B Garfield Apartments,

Metuchen, NJ. Filed Jan. 7, 1963, Ser. No. 249,921 9 Claims. (Cl. 15672) This invention relates to new flexible plastic materials and methods for producing the same and is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial Number 2,561, filed on December 15, 1959, now US. Patent No. 3,073,058, and entitled Inflatable Toys which was a division of application Serial Number 410,489 which was filed on February 16, 1954, now US. Patent No. 2,916,849.

In particular, this invention provides new types of flexible plastic sheeting having a plurality of filaments or fibers disposed in a plurality of different directions against a surface of said sheeting to simulatehair or fur so that the material may be utilized in the construction of various articles of manufacture requiring a fur-like or hairy surface and employing the constructional and assembly techniques involved in fabricating thermoplastic materials to construct and assemble said articles. Inflatable toys, for example, heretofore fabricated only of glossy or smooth surfaced material, may utilize such a filament or fiber surfaced flexible plastic material as a component thereto to provide the walls of the toy which may simulate a furred animal and thereby add realism in the structure of the toy. Furthermore, the furred flexible plastic sheeting will provide the effect, when utilizedas a wall or the walls of an inflatable toy, that is generally derived only in socalled stuffed toys without the necessity of providing stuflf- 'ing materials within the toy such as cotton, rags, foamed plastic or the like. Such structure will permit fabrication of a toy article which is less costly, lighter in weight, substantially more yieldable and softer.

The furred or filamented flexible plastic materials provided herein may also be utilized in the fabrication of various other articles of manufacture which are currently made of animal skins containing hair or fur or of synthetic cloth materials made of furred portions, none of which may be easily fabricated by so-called heat sealin-g techniques. I

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improved flexible plastic material having a plurality of synthetic filaments or fibers secured to a surface thereof and methods for producing said material.

Another object is to provide an improved flexible plastic sheeting capable of being heat sealed and having a multitude of synthetic hair-like elements or filaments secured thereto in a manner to simulate animal hair varying from a soft, fur-like texture to a stifier hair such as found on animals such as horses or cows.

Another object is to provide an improved flexible plastic material having a surface structure simulating animal fur or hair, which material may be easily fabricated by heat sealing into a variety of different articles of manufacture.

Another object is to provide a new and improved structure in an inflatable article of manufacture.

Another object is to provide a new and improved method of continuously fabricating flexible plastic materials having fur-like surface structures.

Another object is to provide methods and apparatus for continuously fabricating web materials from composites of cloth and plastic by the continuous extrusion of plastic sheeting and simultaneous weaving.

Another object is to provide an improved and new flexible sheet material having a felted'or tufted surface structure.

Another'object is to provide a new and improved flexible sheet material having a surface defined by a plurality of curled filamental elements.

With the above and other such objects in view as may hereinafter more fully appear, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangements of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein are shown embodiments of the invention but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications may be resorted to which fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a lateral cross-sectional view of afragment of a flexible plastic sheeting having a plurality of short filaments secured to a surface thereof and projecting substantially normal to said surface;

FIG. 2 is a lateral cross-sectional view of a fragment of a flexible plastic sheeting having a plurality of synthetic filaments or fur-like elements secured to a surface thereof and projecting oblique to said surface to simulate fur or hair; and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a fragment ofan inflatable toy made of the materials illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 illustrates a fragment of a flexible, sheet-like material 10 having a flexible plastic sheet base 12 and a multitude of short fibers or filaments 17 of synthetic or natural fibers secured to a face of 12 in a manner to provide a felted, furred or hair-like appearance. The flexible base 12 is preferably made of an electronically heat sealable synthetic plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride or any suitable flexible synthetic plastic material capable of being heat sealed such as poly-urethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, etc. If polyvinyl chloride is used as the base sheet 12 it may be easily heat sealed to itself or other materials 'by so-called electronic heat sealing means employing dies and radio frequency energy to effect an interfacial welding of two or more sheets of the material, which technique may be utilized to advantage in producing articles .of manufacture without the need for the slower techniques of adhesive bonding, sewing, etc. Notation 13 refers to the outer layer or strata of the sheet 12 and 14 to the remainder of said sheet. Portions 19 of the filament 17 are shown retentively embedded or encapsulated within the outer layer 13 of the sheet 12 while other portions 18 of said filaments or fibers protrude from the outer surface 15 of said sheet. Accordingly, the flexible projecting portions 18 of the hair-like filaments 17 may be utilized to simulate the fur or hair of various animals. The filament 17 may be made of any suitable filamental material such as filaments of any suita- -ble synthetic plastic. If the base sheet 12 is made of a vinyl material the hair-like elements 17 may be short filaments of vinyl plastic of a suitable degree of flexibility or rigidity depending upon the surface effect desired. In other words, the filaments may vary from a soft, hairlike material to a stiffer material resulting in bristle-like formation of said filaments. Other materials of which the filament 17 may be fabricated include so-called rayon, cotton,'Orlon, Dacron, etc. Notations 16 refers to the face of the base sheet 12 opposite that of the face 15 from which the fibers or filaments 17 protrude, which surface 16 may or may not contain a filament formation such as illustrated protruding from surface 15. i

The base sheet 12 of flexible plastic'may vary in thickness from ;001-to .030 inch or greater depending upon the characteristics of the article to *be fabricated thereof and the filaments or fibers 17 may also vary from .001 to .010 inch in length or greater, again depending upon the desired physical effects to be derived from said filaments. l

3 It is briefly noted that the structure illustrated in FIG..

1 may be laminated by adhesive bonding or'heat sealing to any suitable sheet or otherwise shaped material to provide a flexible hair-like or fur-like appearance.

In FIG. 2 is shown a flexible plastic material 20'having a sheet-like base 12, the outer layer 13 of which has partially embedded therein a plurality of filaments or fibers 21 which .are shown disposed oblique to the surface 15 of 12 to provide a more realistic fur or hair-like Y eflect. than the structure illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, it is noted that most animal fur or hair does not generally protrude perpendicular or normal to the skin of the animal as illustrated in FIG. 1 but oblique thereto as'shown in FIG. 2. Accordingly, the fibers or filaments 21 of FIG. 2 have lower portions 23 which are embedded within or bonded to the surface of flexible sheet member 12 and outwardlyprojecting portions 22 which lie close. to the surface 15 and substantially parallel to each other to give the effect of animal hair or fur. While the ele-' ments 21 are shown disposed widely separated from each otherfor the purpose of clarity. in FIG. 2, they. are preferably disposed close togetherv in the same manner that the hair elements of a human being or animal are grown close to the .skin' although, the structure as illustrated in FIG. 2 may also be provided, depending upon the type. of hair-like surface desired.

As in the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, the dimensions of base sheet 12 may very from .001 to .030 inch or more in thickness and the filament elements 21 may vary from .005 to .010 inch or greater in length depending again upon the physical effectdesired. In a preferred embodiment,- the filament elements 21 of FIG. 2 are preferably several times the length of the filament elements 17 of FIG. 1 and may be as much as half an inch or more in length if a thick and soft'fur-like structure is desired. 7

FIG. 3 illustrates a structure in an enclosure 24 made of a sheet of the material illustrated in FIG. 1 and a sheet of the material illustrated in FIG. 2. The enclosure 24 may be inflatable or otherwise constructed to provide, for example, a mock toy animal having .a fur-like 'or hair-like. skin made of said materials. The sheet 10 is preferably electronically heat sealed to a sheet 20 of. material similar to 20 which isshown having a plurality of'obliquely disposed filaments not only in one direction against the outer surface of 20' but in a plurality of directions to provide a different surface effect than the meterial 20 of FIG. 2. Notation 25 refers to an interfacial strip area which preferably extends as a circumscribing weld line sealing the two sheets together which may be inflated to the shape defined at least in part by said weld line.

The flexible materials illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 may be fabricated by a number of methods proposed hereinafter. For example:

(I) A first method for continuously producing the sheet materials 10, 20 or 20' comprises feeding the base sheet 12 of flexible thermoplastic material beneath a source ofheat such as a radiant heating element disposed above the surface 15 in a'manner so as to render a portion of said sheet such as the outer. layer 13 in a semimolten or molten state and, before permitting said layer to'fuse or solidify, applying the filament elements 17 or 22 thereto which become partially embedded within or encapsulated in the layer. 13 upon solidification thereof. The elements 17 or 22 may be applied by gravity, flow of said elements against the semimolten surface, by blowing said elements thereagainst or by a combination of both. of these, techniques. Electrostatic means may be .provided to'dispose the filament elements 17 normal to the. surface 15. In the fabrication of the material 20 illustrated in FIG. 2, the elements 21 may first be applied substantially normal to the surface 15 as illustrated in iFIG. l by the means described above whereafter the sheet 12 may be passed between rollers or otherwise compressed while the layer 13 is in a semimolten condiel tion to dispose said elements oblique. to the, surface as illustrated in FIG. 2.

In a variation of this first method, the filament elements 21 may be disposed initially oblique, to the surface. 15 by being air blown thereagainst or fed by gravity or other means obliquely into the semimolten surfaceu The heating means for rendering the layer :13 semimolten:

tion by radiant heating and/ or extrusion. In other Words, the extruded sheet may be continuously fed fiom the extruder and thelayer 13 rendered molten by radiant.

heating means. I

Conductive heating means may also be utilized to ren 'der. a portion of the sheet 12'such as the layer 13 molten or semimolten for the purposes. described. I For example, the sheet 12 may be fed around .a metal drum which is internally heated ,with the matte or filament'elements'zl fed thereto immediatelybefore contacting the surface of the drum orimmediately thereafter. 7

(III) In a third method, the; surface. layer 13. may be rendered semimolten by applying a liquid solventto-the surface 15 which, prior to evaporating, renders-the. sur-g face layer 13 semimolten and upon eventually evaporating leaves the surface layer .in the. same condition as the base layer 14 for retaining the filaments, fibers or matt elements therein.

(IV) In a fourthfabrication technique it is noted that filament elements such as 17, 21 or 21' maybe provided. of the same material comprising the base sheet 12 by rendering a portion of'saidsheetsuch as layer.,13iin a molten or semimolten condition and formingfilament. elements such as 17 or 21 thereof, preferably on a con tinuous basis. For example, the base sheet:12,{-whilein a semimolten condition or While the layer 13.is semi-j molten or molten may be passed closely adjacent to a rotating drum having a spiny surface with a plurality of tiny projections or needles projecting outwardly therefrom. Such needle-like formations are driven into the molten or semimolten layer 13 as the drum rotates and thereafter may be removed from said layer as the'sheet 12 is fed away from the drum in a manner to draw small. filament-like formationssuch as the protruding portions.

18 or 22 away from the. surface which immediately thereafter solidifies to providea hair-like or tufted layer of the plastic 12 protruding outwardly fromthe surface .15.

Depending upon the condition of the plastic of the layer 13 andits characteristics and the manner in which it is cooled after the formations which are pulled outwardly from the surface 15, the filamentportions .of 12 may .stand out, curl downwardly or curl downwardly and/ or inwardly to provide'various surface effects. .Here 7 a multitude of tiny holes therein which ,have the effect 'of drawing small filamental portions of the plastic away from the sheet. The drum is preferably driven at such a speed that its periphery velocity is substantially equal.

to the lineal velocity of the sheet 12 set thereagainst and A matt of loosely held filament elements extend-. ing in a uniform or random manner mayalso be applied to the molten surface of a sheet rendered in such condi-..

may cooperate with another .smooth surfaced drum or other means for retaining the sheet 12 in fixed relation to the periphery surface of said drum.

In a preferred embodiment .of this method, the base sheet 12 may be continuously extruded from a sheeting die utilized per se as it is extruded or heated by conduction or radiant heating means to a semimolten or molten condition whereafter the spine or hair-like formations are drawn from the surface or surfaces thereof as described hereinabove.

I claim:

1. A method of manufacturing a sheet of flexible plastic material with a pile-like surface structure comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a sheet of flexible thermoplastic material,

(b) rendering at least a portion of said sheet including a major surface thereof in a molten condition,

() continuously feeding said sheet in a predetermined path,

(d) feeding a plurality of filaments of textile material against the molten portion of said sheet,

(e) embedding at least part of each filament within the molten portion of the sheet and,

(f) solidifying the molten sheet material to retain the embedded portions of said filaments therein and provide a composite flexible sheet simulating a haired or furred material.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 in which said filaments are monofilaments of plastic and are retentively embedded at an attitude oblique to the plane of the surface of said sheet.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 including the further step of causing the filaments of textile material to deflect after embedding a portion of the end of each filament in the sheet of flexible plastic material and prior to solidification of said plastic whereby the filaments extend oblique to the surface of the sheet and retaining said filaments in said oblique attitude until the plastic solidifies.

4. A method of manufacturing a sheet of flexible material having a surface simulating fur comprising the steps of feeding a sheet of flexible thermoplastic material along a predetermined path, rendering a portion of the surface of said sheet in a molten condition, embedding portions of a plurality of short monofilaments in the molten plastic with portions of each monofilament protruding outward and substantially normal to the surface of the sheet, and prior to solidification of said molten plastic, deflecting said partly embedded monofilaments to an oblique attitude relative the surface of said sheet and retaining said oblique attitude while solidifying said semimolten plastic.

5. A method of fabricating a sheet of flexible material simulating fur comprising the steps of, feeding a sheet of flexible themoplastic material along a predetermined path and having a portion including a major surface thereof in a molten condition, continuously feeding a web comprising a matte made of nonwoven monofilaments of synthetic plastic into abutment with the molten surface of said sheet, oompressively engaging said matt and said plastic sheet between rollers to cause a portion of each monofilament of said matt to become embedded in the molten plastic, and retaining said filaments embedded in said plastic while solidifying said molten plastic to provide a composite sheet having one face defined by said plastic sheet and the other face defined by the plural filaments of said matt.

6. A method of manufacturing a sheet of flexible material having a fur-like texture comprising the steps of continuously extruding a sheet of flexible plastic from an extrusion die, guiding and feeding said plastic in a predetermined path from said die, providing one surface of said plastic sheet in a molten condition while retaining material adjacent the other surface at a temperature below the melting temperature of said plastic, and continuously feeding a plurality of monofilament elements into the molten surface of said plastic to become embedded therein with portions of the filaments protruding outwardly from the surface of the plastic, and thereafter cooling the molten plastic to retentively secure the embedded filaments in said sheet.

7. A method of continuously forming a composite article of manufacture comprising the steps of continuously extruding a thermoplastic material from an extrusion die to a predetermined elongated shape, and while the thermoplastic material is still at an elevated temperature derived during extrusion and at least part of said shape is in a molten state, feeding a plurality of elements into said molten plastic to embed part of each element in said plastic, and thereafter cooling said plastic to eflfect its solidification to encapsulate and retain the embedded portions of said elements within said plastic.

8. A method of continuously fabricating a flexible web material having a surface simulating fur or hair comprising the steps of continuously feeding a first sheet of flexible material along a predetermined path, continuously extrusion coating a thermoplastic material onto a surface of said flexible web material, continuously introducing a multitude of filament elements into the extrusion coating while in a semimolten state in a manner to cause a portion of each element to become embedded in the extrusion coating and solidifying said extrusion coating thereafter to retain said filament elements therein and against said first sheet of web material.

9. Automatic production apparatus comprising in combination with a textile loom for continuously forming a web of textile material from textile material feeding said loom, including means for guiding said web in a predetermined path, a plastic sheet extrusion die, means for extruding molten plastic material from said die as a continuous sheet, means for feeding said sheet of plastic at substantially the speed at which said textile web feeds from said loom, means for continuously contacting said sheet of plastic onto said textile Web and means for continuously feeding a plurality of filament elements into the plastic material while it is in a molten state to secure said filaments thereto upon solidification of said plastic material.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,843,322 2/1932 Haviland 156-72 2,303,800 12/1942 Swann 156-72 XR 2,527,501 10/1950 Saks. 2,588,130 3/1952 Lemon et a1 156-72 2,654,124 10/ 1953 Layte 264-210 2,688,577 9/1954 Fischer 161-64 2,691,611 10/ 1954 Saks. 2,714,571 9/ 1955 Irion et al 156-244 2,920,679 1/ 1960 Sittel. 3,008,193 11/1961 Been 264-243 3,058,863 10/1962 Gaines et a1. 3,079,290 2/1963 Marshall 161-64 3,142,604 7/1964 Mills et a1 156-435 3, 142,611 7/ 1964 Mills.

FOREIGN PATENTS 208,483 4/ 1960 Austria.

EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner. ALEXANDER H. BRODMERKEL, Examiner.

HAROLD ANSHER, ALEXANDER WYMAN, J. R.

DUNCAN, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A SHEET OF FLEXIBLE PLASTIC MATERIAL WITH A PILE-LIKE SURFACE STRUCTURE COMPRISING THE STEPS OF: (A) PROVIDING A SHEET OF FLEXIBLE THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL, (B) RENDERING AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID SHEET INCLUDING A MAJOR SURFACE THEREOF IN A MOLTEN CONDITION, (C) CONTINUOUSLY FEEDING SAID SHEET IN A PREDETERMINED PATH, (D) FEEDING A PLURALITY OF FILAMENTS OF TESTILE MATERIAL AGAINST THE MOLTEN PORTION OF SAID SHEET, (E) EMBEDDING AT LEAST PART OF EACH FILAMENT WITHIN THE MOLTEN PORTION OF THE SHEET AND, (F) SOLIDIFYING THEMOLTEN SHEET MATERIAL TO RETAIN THE EMBEDDED PORTIONS OF SAID FILAMENTS THEREIN AND PROVIDE A COMPOSITE FLEXIBLE SHEET SIMULATING A HAIRED OR FURRED MATERIAL.
 9. AUTOMATIC PRODUCTION APPARATUS COMPRISING IN COMBINATION WITH A TEXTILE LOOM FOR CONTINUOUSLY FORMING A WEB OF TEXTILE MATERIAL FROM TEXTILE MATERIAL FEEDING SAID LOOM, INCLUDING MEANS FOR GUIDING SAID WEB IN A PREDETERMINED PATH, A PLASTIC SHEET EXTRUSION DIE, MEANS OF EXTRUDING MOLTEN PLASTIC MATERIAL FROM SAID DIE AS A CONTINUOUS SHEET, MEANS FOR FEEDING SAID SHEET OF PLASTIC AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE SPEED AT WHICH SAID TEXTILE WEB FEEDS FROM SAID LOOM, MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY CONTACTING SAID SHEET OF PLASTIC ONTO SAID TEXTILE WEB AND MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY FEEDING A PLURALITY OF FILAMENT ELEMENTS INTO THE PLASTIC MATERIAL WHILE IT IS IN A MOLTEN STATE TO SECURE SAID FILAMENTS THERETO UPON SOLIDIFICATION OF SAID PLASTIC MATERIAL. 